Introducing Providence 365

Providence 365 defined:

Providence \ˈprä-və-dən(t)s, -ˌden(t)s\
1 : a often capitalized : divine guidance or care

b capitalized : God conceived as the POWER sustaining and guiding human destiny

2: the quality or state of being provident

365 = Days in a year

2011= A Full Year of His Blessings

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Providence 365:
We are excited to introduce Providence 365 for the 2011 Calendar Year. Providence 365 is the opportunity to journey through the year, growing in your individual faith walk and discovering His blessings that surround you. Each Sunday, we will provide a Bible Verse – His Word - as your weekly prompt. From there, we encourage you to use that verse as your guide for the week. Reflect on the verse, open your eyes and use all of your senses to find how that verse is truly applicable in your own life. Grab your camera and capture a picture or two and create a layout as a tangible reminder of His Love and Providence.

Your layouts:
The options are unlimited. Simple & Clean, Shabby Chic, Grunge, the choice is yours. Each week’s layout may be unique or you may choose a single template to use throughout the year. Let this journey reflect your personal style. (If you digi-scrap, while certainly not required, we encourage you to use the wonderful papers and elements that Faith Sisters offers in our store)

Your photographs:
Take at least one picture a week on this journey and use it on your layout. Some of you may choose to take a picture each day. Let the bible verse lead you throughout the week. Open your eyes to all of His blessings. His Hand is everywhere. We pray that our Bible Verse and prompt will guide you and allow you to see even the smallest of blessings in your life.

Your journaling:
Your layouts should again be reflective of you. Maybe you are gifted at the written word. Write away. Let the focus of your journey be in print with only one or two pictures. Perhaps you are a gifted photographer that has the eye to capture those perfect images that tell the ‘whole story’. In that case, you may choose to keep your journaling to a minimum.

A few Journaling Prompts to get you started:
• I saw God’s hand of Providence this week in:
• I was blessed this week by:
• Today, God blessed me with:
• We will share more ideas for journaling throughout the year.

There is no right or wrong. Providence 365 is your journey. Allow us to provide a starting point each week for personal reflection and the opportunity for you to open your eyes and see His Hand – His Providence in your life.

We encourage you to subscribe to the Providence 365 Forum for weekly updates. (forum and gallery will be available shortly) If you are an email subscriber to the Faith Sister Blog, you will receive an email update with the current week’s Bible Verse and Focus.

Throughout the year we will share a freebie or two with participants to use on your layouts. But even more than a freebie, our hope and prayer is that through Providence 365 you will grow in your walk and your faith while creating a legacy to pass on to others.

Your first Bible Verse prompt will be provided on Sunday, January 2nd . So the obvious question is, what about January 1st. Your layout for January 1st will be your cover page. Take a picture (or use a favorite photo) that shares a glimpse of where or how you see God’s hand in your life. Have fun with this layout.

Here is Pam's layout; "For me, I always feel closest to God when I am sitting on the shore; the roar of the ocean reflects His power; the gentle breeze is when He kisses my cheek and whispers in my ear, the solitude is my special time with Him. "

You may download our introductory Providence 365 word art as our freebie to you. Here (box.net) or Here (4Shared). Feel free to use this word art on your cover layout and throughout the year.
Post your cover layout (and future layouts) in our Providence 365 gallery at Faith Sisters.
The journey is yours – the blessings are His. His Providence.

Barbara (Precepts and Promises) and Pam (by the Shore designs)

My Lifetime Story Challenge 52 ~ A Letter to Future Generations

Our year of My Lifetime Story Challenges has come to an end. We plan to continue to post a My Lifetime Story challenge periodically because we realize that there is still much to add to our stories! Make sure to stay tuned to Faithsisters and check out the new challenges to come in 2011! We are working on another great challenge that you are not going to want to miss this new year~ announcement coming soon!!

Before we go any futher I would like to encourage you to leave a comment to let our faithful Creative Team know how much you have appreciated their work this year for the My Lifetime Story Challenge! Life got in the way for many, we thank all of you that have taken part in this challenge and all of you that served on the Creative Team for any amount of time. A very special thanks to these ladies who have stuck it through to the very end! Your hard work and dedication has been such a blessing to so many. You may never know how much until you are in heaven, but we hope that this challenge has been a blessing to you throughout all of that work and will continue to be a blessing to you and your family as you cherish your Lifetime Story album.

Although there are many things left to tell in our Lifetime Story albums and we have no plans of being finished, we found it fitting to go ahead and end the year of challenges with the final page of the album. Make sure to allow room to put page protectors in before this page as you continue to add to your story!

For the final page we would like to encourage you to write a letter to the next generation about Jesus. Picture them reading this last story in your album. They've met Jesus through your life, and their hearts are tender. Now, bring it on home. Share the love!


My Letter reads...
I hope you have had as much fun reading my lifetime story as I have had sharing it with you. When you read my stories did you feel a tugging at your heart? Maybe you heard yourself saying, "I would like to know God like that." Jesus tells us to come to Him like little children. Little children don't wait to figure out the love of God, they just run into his arms. Would you liked to be loved, forgiven and held by Him like I have? All you have to do is believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he took the punishment for your sins on the cross so that you could be forgiven and he rose from the dead three days later and is waiting for you in heaven! He is real. He is alive. He loves you very much. All of the blessings and miracles that I have had can be yours too. Jesus is my rock. He has healed me from sickness and poured blessing after blessing over my life. This storybook would not be filled with such happy memories if it weren't for my Jesus. I want you to know the wonderful love of Jesus. He is not a secret that should be kept but shared with the world! He wants to have a relationship with you. Just BELIEVE and ask him to come into your life. He will change your life forever. You will never be sorry! I love you. ~Michelle


Be sure to follow this challenge in our forum and post your page in our gallery under the appropriate category! If you are a digital scrapbooker, be sure to find some great products in our shop to help you with your project!


Here are a few inspirational examples from the team for this challenge:
by JackieaAnn


by Sharon


by Tammy


by Amy

52 Blessings - Week 52 Challenge

  For those of you joining us in the 52 Blessings, you can post your blog link and/or gallery links in the forum threads. You don't have to do every single week to participate. Any time you want to join in and post a blessings feel free!


What have you been blessed by this week?

Participate in our forum here.
Upload your layouts here.

Here is an example layout done by Creative Team member, JackieAnn:




What better way to close out 52 weeks than to thank God for the blessing of my family who made this year a truly blessed one~!
 

SUPPLIES:
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics
Patterned Paper: Love Letters: Little Yellow Bicycle
Font: Papyrus
Adhesive: Vario: EK Success; Vellum Adhesive Runner, Zots:Therm O Web
Embellishments:
Love Letters :Little Yellow Bicycle; Chalk: Colorbox
 
JOURNALING:
God Bless Us Everyone! Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Desktop Calendar Challenge

Welcome to the new Desktop Calendar Challenge at Faith Sisters! My name is Vicky Day of Today's Scrap designs and it is my privilege to host this challenge. Each month, I will provide a template for you to use in the creation of your desktop calendar for the next month. In other words, it is December, but I will be providing the template for you to use in creating your January 2011 desktop calendar. The template should be easily adaptable to whatever size of screen you have. I will also provide several versions of a monthly calendar for you to choose from when creating your desktop calendar. You will be able to blend these into your favorite paper or use as is. Also, there is a text file included in the download giving you some instructions on how to find the dimensions of your desktop and how to apply your new desktop once you have it completed. You can also find those instructions in THIS thread. We would love for you to use only Faith Sister Designer products in creating your calendar, but it is not a requirement. We just want you to be creative and have fun!

Post your calendar in the Desktop Calendar Challenge Gallery HERE. Then, post a link to your completed calendar in this forum thread HERE so I will know when you have completed the challenge. Thanks for participating!

Here is my desktop for January 2011. I used my Winter Wonders kit.

Here is the preview for the template and the calendars that you can download from the challenge forum.  Have fun!

My Lifetime Story Challenge 51 - Today's Technology

Have a very Merry Christmas this week! Happy Birthday Jesus!

If you would have told me fifteen years ago that I would have hundreds of friends from all over the county, and other countries I would have thought you were crazy. If you would have told me that I would be able to talk to them on a daily basis I would have known you were crazy because there is no way I could have afforded to call hundreds of friends long distance, let alone have the time to talk to all those people!

The internet has changed our lives in such a dramatic way! I really do have hundreds of friends that I communicate with on a daily basis. Many of those friends who I know from the internet are some of my nearest and dearest friends at heart. Those friendships would never have been possible if it weren't for the internet.

Imagine how much things are going to change in the future. It is hard to think that anything more could be invented, haven't they thought of it all already?? However, I know in 10 years we will be looking back at this post and laughing at how primitive the internet was back then!

Create a layout about your daily uses of technology. Talk about how things have changed over the years. Are there things that you dislike about technology? How do you thinks things might look in the future technology wise?


Be sure to follow this challenge in our forum and post your page in our gallery under the appropriate category! If you are a digital scrapbooker, be sure to find some great products in our shop to help you with your project!


Here are a few inspirational examples from the team for this challenge:

by Karma


by Tammy


by JackieAnn


by Amy


By Sharon

52 Blessings - Week 51 Challenge

  For those of you joining us in the 52 Blessings, you can post your blog link and/or gallery links in the forum threads. You don't have to do every single week to participate. Any time you want to join in and post a blessings feel free!


What have you been blessed by this week?

Participate in our forum here.
Upload your layouts here.

Here is an example layout done by Creative Team member, JackieAnn:




Meg Mom & Jeff sharing the family tradition of decorating sugar cookies
I used this background paper cause thought it looked like frosting =)
 
SUPPLIES:
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics
Patterned Paper: Love Letters: Little Yellow Bicycle
Font: Papyrus
Adhesive: Vario: EK Success; Vellum Adhesive Runner, Zots:Therm O Web
Embellishments:
Love Letters :Little Yellow Bicycle; Chalk: Colorbox
 
JOURNALING:
Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it "white".
Bing Crosby

DECEMBER 1,2,3 Scrap!

What a wonderful time of the year! During the season of Advent we prepare for a celebration of the birth of Christ. The hustle and bustle; decking the halls, Christmas parties, shopping and the sharing of family traditions are all part of our daily lives in December. Taking time to reflect on the TRUE meaning of the season is something that we each need to do – as often as possible. God’s gift to us came in the form of a newborn Baby Boy.

This week, an email arrived in my in-box. It is one I have seen for the last few years during the Christmas season – and it still moves me…please let me share this message with you :

The "W" in Christmas

Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations - extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.

My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six-year-old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's "Winter Pageant."

I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.

So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.

Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment - songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row-center stage -- held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."

The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down -- totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a “W." The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W." Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"

And He still is! I hope this special message is one that helps you reflect on CHRISTmas and the reason for this celebration!

AND HERE WE GO!!!!

Our December 1,2,3 Scrap! challenge is about Celebration

1. The theme of your layout is Celebration! Perhaps you can share how your family celebrates Jesus’ birthday. Perhaps it is the celebration of a milestone, a family birthday, a promotion. The choice is yours.

2. Use three photos. (Try to make them all close-ups – really zoom that camera – or crop tool – in close)

3. Use only 3 different papers and only 3 different elements (but you can use these as often as you wish on the layout.

For those that participate in our December 1,2,3 Scrap Challenge, my gift to you will be my just released “Bethlehem” quick page.

Simply post your layout in our 1,2,3 Scrap! Gallery and provide a link to the layout in our 1,2,3, Scrap! Forum

Are you ready? 1,2,3 Scrap!

Merry Christmas! Happy Birthday Jesus!

My Lifetime Story Challenge 50 - I Believe In Miracles

It is hard to believe that we are nearing the end of our year of My Lifetime Story Challenges! 2010 is drawing to an end and so is this weekly challenge. But never fear! Our stories will continue and so will this challenge. We plan to continue to add challenges to this My Lifetime Story album!

This week is all about Miracles. There seems no better time to talk about Miracles than right here at Christmas as we reflect on the miraculous birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Miracles are hard to believe. Usually, they don't make sense. Many times people have a hard time believing in miracles and try to prove them with natural reasonsing. Do you believe in miracles?

Here are some miracles from the bible:
Read Luke 5:4-7
Read Acts 16:24-26
Read John 4:46-54
Read Matthew 14

These are just a few examples of miracles. God performed many miracles in bibile times. Do you believe that God still performs miracles today?

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" ~Hebrew 13:8

This week journal about why you believe in miracles. Start your journaling out "I believe in miracles because... then tell the story of a miracle or miracles you have witnessed or heard about.



It is important that we help our future generations to see the stories of God's power displayed in our lives, it will build their faith to believe that He will intervene in miraculous ways in their lives too.

Be sure to follow this challenge in our forum and post your page in our gallery under the appropriate category! If you are a digital scrapbooker, be sure to find some great products in our shop to help you with your project!


Here are a few inspirational examples from the team for this challenge:

by Tammy


by Amy



by JackieAnn

Made Ya Look Monday

On Mondays we feature some amazing layouts in our gallery that just "Made Ya Look!"

We invite these ladies to snag our NEW featured blinkie to wear on their blog and in the forums!


by Manja




by GrannyNKy




by MaryS




by gailani




by tdmyers



by coltsmom414




by simplegirlscraps




by JackieAnn




by Shereen




by LivyBug




by Flohbock



by Edilene

52 Blessings - Week 50 Challenge

  For those of you joining us in the 52 Blessings, you can post your blog link and/or gallery links in the forum threads. You don't have to do every single week to participate. Any time you want to join in and post a blessings feel free!


What have you been blessed by this week?

Participate in our forum here.
Upload your layouts here.

Here is an example layout done by Creative Team member, JackieAnn:




Cardstock: Bazzill Basics
Patterned Paper: Love Letters: Little Yellow Bicycle
Font: Papyrus
Adhesive: Vario: EK Success; Vellum Adhesive Runner, Zots:Therm O Web
Embellishments:
Love Letters :Little Yellow Bicycle; Chalk: Colorbox
 
JOURNALING:
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. “ Matthew 5:5

New December Customer Appreciation Kit & Lots of Goodies

So, you are probably wondering why you haven't gotten our newsletter for a while... well, our family has been super busy! Performances and parties galore! It looks like nothing is going to slow down anytime soon either! Wow, I think this has been the busiest season I have ever had! Well, let's not delay, on to the news....   We have changed our calendar format to try out for a while. One of our customers suggested that we use Google Calendars so that she could easily add our events to her personal google calendar. So now you are able to see all of our events in advance on our calendar! Be sure to join us for a SPEED SCRAP tomorrow (Tuesday December 14 at starts at 5pm Pacific, 6 Mountain, 7 Central, 8 Eastern! We will be doing this in our forum, click here for the location.   Read More...

NEW Customer Appreciation Kit

SUGAR PLUMS PART 1!

Buy $10.00 or more and get this product for FREE!

Just follow these simple steps:

1. FIRST add $10.00 or more of digital scrapbooking products into your shopping cart

2. THEN add this product to your shopping cart

3. Enter this coupon code during the check out process: FSCSP12072010_13

NEW DIGITAL PRODUCTS

	KITS
	CLIP ART

	ELEMENTS & MORE

	QUICK PAGES & TEMPLATES
	PAPERS & BACKGROUNDS
	Shop By Designer
Audra's Little Scraps	Benilda Scraps	Busy Mama Designs
by the Shore designs	Chelly Oliveira	Claudi Designs
Designs by Angel	DesignZ by DeDe	Digital Compilations
Forget-Me-Nots	Kreative Karma	Kris Mazy, Scrap Warrior
LATZ designs	Lori Imel	Meredith Cardall
Precepts and Promises	Primsy Doodle Designs	Simple Girl Scraps
Simply Susan	Steadfast	Tirza for Major Scrapola
Today's Scrap	Toucan Scraps